Tech engineering program to hold opening ceremonies

The new Texas Tech Engineering Graduate Studies Program will have an open house of its facility at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Wellington Office Park, 1616 S. Kentucky.

Opening ceremonies will take place at the building's main entrance, said Wallace Johnston, business manager for the facility in Suite 150 of Building C.

It will be followed by speeches by Mayor Trent Sisemore, Texas Tech Provost William Marcy and Michael Bourn, president of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp., Johnston said.

Tours and refreshments will continue throughout the afternoon, he said.

"Hopefully what (the program) is going to do is provide engineering graduate education to the Panhandle, which we've not been effectively able to do in the past," said James Smith, interim dean of the College of Engineering in Lubbock.

The new program should help recruit and maintain an engineering-educated and prepared work force, he said.

"I think it's important for companies up in the Amarillo area as part of their recruiting to be able to offer graduate education opportunities for their engineers," Smith said.

The program is primarily targeting working engineers who have a bachelor's degree and want to move on to the next level in their education, he said.

"Our client base right now, we're expecting to be full-time engineers so we are trying to accommodate their work schedules," he said.

For that reason, courses are primarily scheduled for late afternoons and evenings, he said. Classes at the new facility will start Aug. 26.